Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[wannahomestead]

So this will be my first winter with chickens/ducks. There is no power available at the coop. What options can I explore for keeping water thawed for drinking?

 

[aart]

So this will be my first winter with chickens/ducks. There is no power available at the coop. What options can I explore for keeping water thawed for drinking?

I used 2 identical waterers and just swapped them out as needed, minimum first thing in the morning then a couple hours before dark so they didn't go to roost dehydrated.
Sometimes midday depending on weather. Did that one year, PITA, then strung an extension cord and installed water heater.

 

[1muttsfan]

Water without power is a LOT of work, as Aart pointed out.

 

[aart]

Quote: I actually strung the cord the first year for winter light and had a not so great water heater the first year.
Second year had a great water heater that was sooo nice,
but let a broody hatch out in another pen so was still trotting liquid out to swap for frozen several times a day...
......won't do that again.

 

[Folly's place]

You can use the rubber tubs for water, the ice dumps out of them easily. BUT again, it's three trips per day out there; dawn, mid-day, and afternoon, to give fresh water. Electricity is wonderful!!! Mary

 

[Candy442]

We like to use the largest heated dog water bowls. DH inserts a plastic gallon milk jug in the bowlto keep the wattles out of the water during extreme low temps and fill the bowl up with water as needed. We put the bowl on top of cement blocks.

We also learned the hard way with swapping out unheated waterers the first year of chickens...never again

 

[gladahmae]

Turned another laundry basket of tomatoes into sauce today. Probably and another laundry basket of them to pick at this point too. At least they're Romas and I won't have to boil them for hours to get rid of the water......

 

[snowflake]

Turned another laundry basket of tomatoes into sauce today. Probably and another laundry basket of them to pick at this point too. At least they're Romas and I won't have to boil them for hours to get rid of the water......

how long does it take for the roma's to boil down, the only batch we ever did we burned

chickens will get it with oatmeal this winter

Good to know I have one less freeloader!

nice eggs too!

I have a few free loaders right now! All the ducks, and one of my easter eggers. I picked up the EE today and she seems super frail . She was broody for a minute but hasn't sat on eggs in weeks now. I wonder if she's still broody but not sitting on eggs. I'm a little worried about her. Hopefully she'll get excited about a banana tomorrow.

I may have a trade coming in on Friday. Trading to KC drakes for a Rouen duck. I'm ok with that trade Hopefully it goes through.

Ducks are 17 weeks tomorrow

maybe she is just in molt, they look so sickly and don't like to be handled

So this will be my first winter with chickens/ducks. There is no power available at the coop. What options can I explore for keeping water thawed for drinking?

I agree with the rest. the first yr. before power to the coop, we ran extension cords through pvc pipe, worked quite well

 

[1muttsfan]

Opa has a way of cooking tomatoes down in the oven, I have not tried it yet but hope to another year

 

[gladahmae]

I don't have to cook the Romas down at all. THats why I plant them every year.

I do have about a gallon of slicing tomatoes that I made into sauce (just had way too many) that I will cook down but that didn't take horribly long. I am familiar with opa's method as it relies on surface area for the evaporation process (and therefore a large flat pan will have more surface area than a stock pot)